


keep your proverbs short and sweet

by dizzy



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 16:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6992617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Chris's 26th birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	keep your proverbs short and sweet

Twenty six years of living and loving and trying new things. Twenty six years and so much has changed in just the last one alone. Loss in different forms, the kind he walked away from with heaviness but no regret and the kind ripped from his life without even a chance to say goodbye. 

But happiness, too. Sometimes it was hard to see but it was there all the same. 

*

It's just past ten in the morning and Chris has cake and champagne as breakfast in bed. 

Darren sits cross-legged beside him. He's bad at this kind of thing more often than not but he tries in his weird Darren way. 

Last year Darren almost forgot his birthday entirely. Darren was in the throes of his Broadway affair and he didn't send a present, didn't even remember to call until too late in the day when Chris was already out with other friends. 

Everything was harder then. They were still figuring out themselves and where they stood when not connected by a common job to tether them together. Chris remembers downing free shots and being angry. He remembers getting into bed that night and not hearing his phone go off, but waking up the next morning to a notification and a blurry side-stage video. 

Darren's not great at remembering things but he's pretty good at thinking on his feet, inventive when he needs to be. But this year there's no excuses or creative ways out of the doghouse because he wakes up before Chris and shuts off Chris's alarm so he gets to sleep in and he cuts the cake with a single candle on it and sings a sincere rendition of the birthday song as Chris licks icing off his own fingers and smiles. 

*

"King for a day," Darren says, and puts the crown on Chris's head. 

"Sweetie, I'm king every day," Chris says. 

Darren laughs but he doesn't argue. 

*

There's a gathering. It's small, just friends. Chris hasn't been one for anything too boisterious this year. Darren's the one that goes for big sounds, big spectacles, thriving amongst the people. But he's good like this, too; a charming co-host if not always an attentive one. When the mood mellows down to just their closest friends and a fresh bottle of wine he slides onto the piano bench and becomes part of the white noise of the evening.

He plays all of Chris's favorite songs, and Chris lets Darren know that he notices with a warm smile from across the room and a top up on Darren's wine every time he passes by. 

*

"You're old," Darren says, teasing with a grin. 

"You're still older," Chris says back. It's always his response. It always makes Darren laugh.

It's true. Darren's got creases around his eyes that weren't there a few years ago. The shape of his face goes from lean to fuller with the amount of whiskey and sleep (too much and too little, in turns) he gets. But he's warm and stubborn and beautiful, this man who taught Chris what it really meant to work for something whose end result no one could even guarantee. Writing books, making movies, showing up on a set - those are tasks he can accomplish, routines he understands. Loving someone who makes you feel like every step is unsteady, and still somehow trusting them to catch you when you call? That's been work. 

It's taken Chris twenty six years to understand what's really important in life, and some hard reminders to really drive it home. He's sure he still has a lot more lessons left to learn, but that's okay. He's got time.


End file.
